Sebastian Ryall will try to emulate his stunning goal in the last Big Blue as Sydney FC look to secure their Hyundai A-League finals spot over the last three games of the season.
Sebastian Ryall will try to emulate his stunning goal in the last Big Blue as Sydney FC look to secure their Hyundai A-League finals spot over the last three games of the season.
The Sky Blues dropped out of the top six after last weekend’s loss to Adelaide, increasing the need to get maximum points in Saturday night’s blockbuster away clash against Melbourne Victory.
It’s been a roller-coaster season for Frank Farina’s side but Ryall says they can take confidence from their ability to eke out results when their backs are against the wall.
And the hard-working defender admits it helps the belief to look around the change-room and see the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Sasa Ognenovski, Richard Garcia and Ali Abbas on their side.
“There’s a lot of experience in the squad with Alessandro leading us, we’re going to take that in which is always good for us,” Ryall told footballaustralia.com.au.
“You look at the squad and there’s some players that have had great careers and the experience is there.”
Ryall has fond memories of his last clash with his former club Victory, scoring a spectacular solo goal in that big 5-0 win on Australia Day.
After waiting 80 games to grab his first Hyundai A-League goal, ironically also against the Victory, the 24-year-old is on somewhat of a hot-streak, scoring seven times in his last 47 appearances.
Asked the reason behind his goal-scoring surge, Ryall said: “I’ve just had more opportunity to get forward now.
“Playing (right-back) you get the chance to get forward and I think I’m good at getting on the end of crosses from set-pieces.
“I’m probably not expecting to do something like last time again.
“It’s a once in a while type of goal but if I get the chance again I’ll definitely have another pop…I won’t be hesitating.
“Last time we went there we won 5-0 and we’ve beaten (Victory) twice this year. We’re not expecting an easy match by any means but it’s coming to the stage where we need to pick up results to get to the finals.”
After Saturday night’s ‘Big Blue’, Sydney returns home to Allianz Stadium for their final two regular season matches against Wellington and Perth Glory.
“If we can win this week and jump back up into the six it will take a lot of pressure off,” Ryall conceded.
“We’re going to back ourselves at home against anyone really. It’s a matter of picking up the points this week and we’ll take the next step into the final two matches.
“Coming into this game it will help us having players that have been there and know what it’s like to play under pressure. That’s the advantage for us to have a squad like that.
“If we can win be a massive help for us and to have the home crowd for the last two games will be a big advantage and should help us get (into the top six).”
